Friday, March 27, 2015

How did Jesus save us? Was it because
he suffered and died for us? Was it because he made the ultimate
sacrifice? Was it not because, in the words of the Second Reading from
Philippians, he "emptied himself" totally and in so doing
became filled with the Spirit of his Father. He clung to nothing; he let
go of everything. (That is what we find so hard.)

Jesus suffered obviously in his body and he
underwent pain that we associate with the more barbaric forms of torture in our
own day. But he must also have suffered psychologically and this pain may
have been even more intense. He saw his mission collapse all around him
in total failure. His disciples had all, for the sake of their own skins,
taken to their heels. Would anyone remember anything he taught or
did? There was, at this special time of need, a terrible
loneliness. His disciples fell asleep in the garden when he especially
needed their support. They ran off as soon as people came to arrest Jesus.
Even the Father seems to be silent, the Father who could send legions of angels
to rescue him - but apparently did nothing. There is the final poignant
cry from the cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
At the moment of his death, Matthew in today's Gospel reading says that Jesus
"released the spirit". It is a way of saying that he
breathed his last breath and died. But it also has the other meaning that
the life, sufferings and death of Jesus, when properly understood, released a
power into the world, the power of the Spirit of God, a Spirit with which Jesus
himself was filled. Jesus' followers will soon become filled with that Spirit
also.

Hosanna !! and Crucify him !!! …

The crying out of
these words, we hear side by side in today's liturgy of the word. In fact, less
than a week,

Precisely five days
separates them. On Sunday He is called a King by the crowds and on Friday -
probably the same crowds - call for His death. Often it is the same in our
lives; after days of glory will suddenly come, days of disaster and mortification,
days of difficulty and fear.

Do not forget that,
after Palm Sunday with its "Hosanna" comes Good Friday with the cry
"Crucify Him". But also don't forget that after Good Friday comes
Sunday of the Resurrection, with its truth: "I am the Resurrection and the
Life, who believes in me, even if he dies will live with me".

Saturday, March 14, 2015

The readings today are all about salvation. The extract from
the Book of Chronicles gives us an account of the great exile known as the
Babylonian Captivity that occurred in 586 BC.

This was a most extraordinary event. After over four hundred
years of rule by the descendants of King David the Kingdom of Judah was
overthrown by Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon and the majority of the
population taken into captivity.

In many ways things in the Middle East haven’t changed that
much, there have been power struggles going on there right down the ages to our
own day. In the period we are thinking about the newly ascendant empire was
that of Babylon. Their King, Nebuchadnezzar, was well aware of the riches owned
by his weaker neighbour and soon decided to plunder Judah and enslave its
inhabitants.

One sure way to keep a whole people in slavery is to destroy
their hope. Since the hope of a nation is often expressed in its religion
Nebuchadnezzar lost no time in destroying the Temple in Jerusalem. He was
convinced that this would send the people into despair and they would become
more easily manageable.

Nebuchadnezzar thought that the Israelites would conclude
that their God was weak and powerless since he could not even defend his own
Temple.

But, of course, the very opposite happened. The Prophet
Jeremiah had foretold these events and the people came to understand that the
destruction of the Temple and their enslavement was not a result of the
weakness of God but due to their own infidelity. They interpreted the Captivity
as appropriate punishment by God for disobeying him rather than demonstrating
any inadequacy on his part.

The Captivity lasted seventy years and then God moved the
heart of the new ruler of Babylon, the Persian King Cyrus, to release the Jews
and to actually go so far as to rebuild the Temple for them.

This must have seemed quite incredible to the People of
Israel. They had been lamenting their lot in Babylon as is so eloquently
expressed in the Psalm given to us today. And then suddenly this new pagan king
expresses his belief in their God and says that he has been instructed by him
to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.

This was surely a most extraordinary miracle and a profound
vindication of the God of their fathers; a faith strengthened and renewed
rather than extinguished by seventy years of captivity.

Just imagine their rejoicing as they returned home to
freedom. This can only be described as a profound experience of salvation for
them.

We should remember that this wasn’t the first time that the
People of Israel had experienced captivity and exile. You will remember the
Exile into Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs and how Moses led the Chosen
People through the Red Sea and then through forty years in the desert until
they reached the Promised Land of Canaan.

These experiences of salvation were deeply ingrained in the
history and culture of Israel. You could not think of a better way of preparing
a race of people for the definitive saving event of all time –the salvation won
by Jesus Christ.

The only trouble with us humans is that we forget. We
continually forget even the most important lessons in life. And, as a people,
the Jews were no different in that they continually forgot the lessons of the
deepest experiences they had collectively endured.

Jesus explains this to Nicodemus. He tells him how what
Moses achieved was going to happen once again but in a greater and more
definitive way.

This time there would be no exile into slavery, no journey
through the desert, no glorious entry into the Promised Land. There would be no
captivity in Babylon, no sudden change of heart by a pagan Emperor.

No, this time the circumstances would be almost banal. A
squalid betrayal by a once loyal disciple, an arrest in a garden in the middle
of the night, a trumped up trial, the exchange of his life for that of a rebel
and the crucifixion by Romans on behalf of a corrupt priesthood.

We have been speaking about memory but there are different
kinds of memory. We are all familiar with short-term memory. We remember where
we left our car in the supermarket car park. But we don’t retain this
information for long otherwise our minds would be clogged up with a lot of
unnecessary data.

Then there is long-term memory. This is more difficult; we
often remember scenes from our childhood or significant events. Sometimes
events flood unbidden into our minds, things that we thought were long
forgotten.

And there is collective memory. This is the memory of a
whole nation or community. It is about the significance of their history. A
modern example would be the memory of the holocaust for the Jews, and indeed
also for the Germans. Keeping these events alive is important in order to
maintain the identity of the community concerned.

The events of the Exodus and the Captivity have been highly
significant for the Jews down through the ages. They were demonstrations of
their chosenness by God which was precisely what they considered made them
different from all the other nations of the earth.

These were powerful experiences of salvation which affected
a whole people for many generations. They were powerful demonstrations of God’s
love despite the infidelity of a considerable proportion of the nation.

And yet, by the time of Jesus, these things were being
forgotten. The priests especially were caught up in a highly clerical religion
which exploited the people and which ensured places of privilege from
themselves. This was accompanied by highly inappropriate collusion with the
Roman invaders.

Jesus tells Nicodemus what is about to happen. He reveals to
this important member of the Jewish hierarchy that God is now going to
intervene in a most spectacular way and is going to definitively bring about
salvation not merely for the Jewish people but for the whole human race.

Memory remains important, because it is our collective
memory which communicates this extraordinary intervention of God in the history
of the world to future generations.

We keep this memory fresh by constantly reading the
scriptures and by gathering together to celebrate the Eucharist each week.
These are the means by which the Good News of the Kingdom is kept alive in the
world today.

In the words of consecration Our Lord says: Do this in
memory of me. It is his memory we keep alive, it is his salvation that we
celebrate; it is his Kingdom that we look forward to so much.

Friday, March 06, 2015

Few days ago I got a letter from one of these corporations sending different type of advertisements, bulletins and booklets. In the letter I read:

“There is no doubt you feel the increasing encroachment of godlessness in every aspect of public life: godlessness in governments; godlessness in economics; godlessness in the universities; godlessness in the courts; godlessness in the sciences; godlessness in the news media; and even godlessness in once-Catholic families.

It is a godlessness that quickly turns into a tangible hostility to religion.

This godlessness has come about due to a loss of belief in the one true Catholic Faith. Central tenets of the faith have been undermined, ridiculed and denied, perhaps as never before in history.

The average Catholic, immersed in the worldwide media of television, radio and the internet, is constantly bombarded with direct or indirect assaults on his Faith.

And how can one live a good moral life if one’s Faith has been decimated? The collapse of the Faith is the cause of the unprecedented rise in immorality of our time.”

At first I was rather astonished and ready to rebuke this kind of negativistic vision of the world. It cannot be so bad. We have still some good examples of faith and morality. We cannot see all in these black and dark colours.

But after a day or so, I read today’s readings and I did a simple verification and comparison with the contemporary reality.

In the first reading we have the Ten Commandments, the law of God, about what one of the philosophers said, that there is no possibility of denying the ultimate value of this law.

And we can continue with all ... and it will be no end. All commandments are constantly neglected, denied, rejected and contradicted in the name of human rights, in the name of human dignity, human freedom, in the name of civil liberties ...

And then I read the Gospel, where I see Jesus Christ in rage and how the “zeal for the house of God is consuming Him” and I realised that most probably He will react in the same way seeing what is going on with His Church, the Temple of God today. How often this Temple of God became only the marketplace of the personal opinions, private convictions, individualistic statements, the place of business and commerce where o more God and his worship is present but ME and MY personality?

“godlessness in governments; godlessness in economics; godlessness in the universities; godlessness in the courts; godlessness in the sciences; godlessness in the news media; and even (I will dare to say) godlessness in once-Catholic Church. Central tenets of the faith have been undermined, ridiculed and denied, perhaps as never before in history.”

Should we fell in desperation and anxiety, hopelessness and despair? Should we be depressive and sad?

Is it really so bad?

And then I read the short passage from the letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, our second reading today:

“Brothers and sisters:

when Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom

we proclaim Christ crucified,

a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

but to those who are called, the power of God and the wisdom of God.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,

and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”

“Jesus Christ crucified the power of God and the wisdom of God” will certainly take care of His Temple, and will cleanse His Church.

As long as we believe Jesus Christ crucified we don’t need to be afraid, hopeless and depressive.

Homily from Father Joseph Pellegrino http://www.st.ignatius.net/pastor.html 21 Ordinary Time Faith is a choice - Choices and the Onl...

Divine Mercy Chaplet

Opening PrayerYou expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed for souls, and an ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty yourself out upon us.

O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us. I trust in You!________________________________________1. Begin with the• Sign of the Cross,• 1 Our Father,• 1 Hail Mary• The Apostles Creed.

2. Then on the Our Father Beads say the following:Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following:For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.(Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades).

4. Conclude with(three times):Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Closing PrayerEternal God, in whom Mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your Holy Will, which is Love and Mercy itself. Amen

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New English translation of the Roman Missal

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“I solemnly urge you:proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires,and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.” (2 Tim 4,1-5)

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How to pray

How to pray the Chaplet of The Divine Mercy:

1. Begin with the Sign of the Cross, 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.

2. Then on the Our Father Beads say the following:
Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following:
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
(Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades).

4. Conclude with (three times):
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

JESUS, WE TRUST IN YOU!

Optional Closing Prayer:

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion — inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.